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Descendants of James Morris


Generation No. 4


6. GERTRUDE4 MORRIS (WILLIAM ROBERTSON3, JOHN2, JAMES1) was born April 16, 1863 in Healdsburg, CA. She married ROBERT BLAKE TODD November 18, 1884, son of JOSHUA TODD and ELIZA BLAKE. He was born April 09, 1856 in Texas.

Notes for G
ERTRUDE MORRIS:
In the Santa Rosa, CA, city directory of 1885, Gertrude was living with her mother, and her occupation was listed as School Teacher.

More About G
ERTRUDE MORRIS:
Fact 2: Bet. 1884 - 1885, listed in census as a school teacher
     
Children of G
ERTRUDE MORRIS and ROBERT TODD are:
  i.   EDITH MORRIS5 TODD, b. Aft. 1884.
  ii.   ROBERT MORRIS TODD, b. Aft. 1884.
  iii.   SOPHIE WALTON TODD, b. Abt. 1886.
  iv.   MARGARITE TODD, b. Abt. 1888.


7. CAROLYN JANE4 MORRIS (WILLIAM ROBERTSON3, JOHN2, JAMES1) was born January 27, 1866 in Healdsburg, CA, and died June 22, 1948 in Prescott, AZ. She married HOMER H. MC NEIL November 24, 1885 in Phoenix, Arizona, son of ALBERTUS MC NEIL and EUNICE BEEBE. He was born March 26, 1856 in Davenport, Iowa, and died April 03, 1942 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Notes for C
AROLYN JANE MORRIS:
from her newspaper obituary: June 22, 1948
Mrs. Carolyn Morris McNeil, 82, died last night at the Pioneers home where she had been a guest since December 6, 1947, entering from Phoenix.
Mrs. McNeil was born in Healdsburg, CA, January 27, 1866. She went to Phoenix in 1882. She was a member of the Phoenix Chapter No. 5, Order of the Eastern Star.
She is survived by a son and two daughters; Fred McNeil, Mount Pleasant, IA; Mrs. W.K. Fetter and Mrs. Tomkinson, both of Phoenix.
The body was sent to Phoenix for burial.
Carolyn came to Phoenix at age 16, to live with her father. Her father signed the record of her marriage to Homer.

More About C
AROLYN JANE MORRIS:
Fact 2: 1885, father signed her marriage license

Notes for H
OMER H. MC NEIL:
Homer McNeil & Carolyn Morris married in the Methodist Church in Phoenix, AZ. Homer & Carolyn are both buried in the McNeil family plot in Greenwood Cemetery in Phoenix, near Van Buren and the Freeway.
From his diary we learn that Homer arrived in Chicago on June 4, 1873. He left for Davenport, IA in March, 1877. On December 4, 1877, he left Davenport for CA, arriving in San Francisco on December 13th. On March 25, 1878, he moved to San Jose and started the newspaper, "Republic," which was published until July of that same year. In March, 1879, Homer and his brother Albert went into the drug label printing business. Homer continued in that business until January of 1881, when he sold his interest for $3,500. In April 1881, he left San Jose for Phoenix, AZ. On May 7, 1881, he bought a half-interest in the "Arizona Gazette," from Buckey O'Neil, a famous Spanish-American War hero. Charles McNeil and Bucky O'Neil had started the paper, with assistance from their father, Albertus James McNeil. On May 2, 1882, Homer bought out Charles' interest in the paper for $1,300.
Also from his diary, we learn that somewhere in the period of 1882-1883, Homer bought the west half of block 95, City of Phoenix, and built a house and barn, cleared the land, and planted trees. In May, 1884, he incorporated the Gazette Printing & Publishing Company for $10,000. His diary states, "I got $6,000 for the plant and took $3,000 in stock."
On April 12, 1887, Homer sold the Gazette to Thomas E. Farish and A.B. Fickas. For a while after that, he was interested in a gold mining operation, which later went bankrupt. He paid for those costs by selling off many acres of land he owned in Cave Creek.
Soon after, he returned to the printing business in San Francisco, San Jose and Fresno, until 1890, when he returned to Phoenix and opened his own printing plant. For a time in the early 1920's, Homer also operated a general store in Tolleson, AZ, at that time a mostly-farming community west of downtown Phoenix. He then returned to Phoenix and operated a printing businesses there until his death.
Like many of the McNeils before him, Homer was an active member of the Masonic Order, and the Order of the Elks.
The Phoenix History Museum has on display one of the printing presses owned by Homer. There is also a photo available of Homer and his workers, from the press room of the Phoenix Gazette.
(from Internet records:)
In the 1880 Census records for Nevada, Homer, his sister Cora, and his parents, "Albertis" and Minnie, are all listed as living in Carson City.      Also listed as living in Carson City, NV, is someone named "Kate McNeil." It is not known if she is a relative, or someone totally unrelated, but there were only 5 McNeil listed for Carson City in 1880.

More About H
OMER H. MC NEIL:
Fact 1: Bet. 1881 - 1887, owner/editor of Phoenix Gazette
Fact 2: Helped start 1st volunteer fire department
     
Children of C
AROLYN MORRIS and HOMER MC NEIL are:
  i.   MABLE BEEBE5 MC NEIL, b. October 16, 1886, Phoenix, Arizona; d. April 1983, San Leandro, California; m. WILLIAM KAY FETTER, October 15, 1913, Phoenix, Arizona; b. September 06, 1887, Sunbury, PA; d. April 1987, California.
  Notes for MABLE BEEBE MC NEIL:
Mabel and Kay were married at the home of Mabel's sister, Helen McNeil Seeley, in Phoenix.
Mabel was cremated, and her ashes were scattered over Muir Woods, in accordance with her wishes.
She was a public notary, and notarized many family documents, including the sale of the Homer McNeil printing business to her adopted brother, Bill McNeil, in 1942.
After retiring, Mabel and Kay moved to CA.


  Notes for WILLIAM KAY FETTER:
After finishing school, Kay was employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad in Sunbury and Altoona, PA, until moving to Phoenix with his family, in 1919. In Phoenix, he went to work as a clerk for R.G. Dun and Company, and its successor, Dun & Bradstreet. He worked there, as the manager of the Phoenix Office, until his retirement in 1952.

  ii.   GEORGE MORRIS MC NEIL, SR., b. July 27, 1888, Phoenix, Arizona; d. January 26, 1960, Chicago, IL; m. RUTH GOODFELLOW PATTON, December 23, 1918, Phoenix, Arizona; b. July 01, 1888, Bisbee, AZ; d. October 03, 1967, Phoenix, AZ.
  Notes for GEORGE MORRIS MC NEIL, SR.:
George McNeil was in military service in World War I. After the war he returned to Phoenix, where he was employed in the printing trade, mostly with the Arizona Republic and Phoenix Gazette. At the time of his death, he was en route to a Veteran's hospital in Virginia, but died on the train in Chicago.

  iii.   CARRIE ELIZABETH MC NEIL, b. November 04, 1890, Phoenix, Arizona; d. July 1991, Phoenix, Arizona; m. PHILLIP KIRKPATRICK TOMKINSON, Prescott, Arizona; b. August 29, 1891, Philadelphia, Pennslvania; d. December 15, 1949, Fort McDowell, AZ.
  Notes for CARRIE ELIZABETH MC NEIL:
      The family called her, "Meme," the name her adopted brother Bill McNeil gave her in his infancy. She would hold out her arms to him and ask, "Do you want me?" He would hold his arms up to her and say, "Me, me." The nickname stuck for the rest of her life.
      For her 100th birthday, she was interviewed by the Phoenix Gazette, the paper her father ran from 1881-1888. Fred & Mildred Tompkinson hosted a party for her at their home in Phoenix. It was a wonderful party, attended by some relatives who hadn't seen each other for years.
      According to Kay Harrold, Meme didn't like men with beards or moustaches because she didn't like her maternal grandfather, William R. Morris.
     

  Notes for PHILLIP KIRKPATRICK TOMKINSON:
      Phil was in the military in WW I. After to coming AZ, he was employed for a number of years as a miner at Canon, AZ. He also did some prospecting on his own. The family then moved to Phoenix, and he worked for the Salt River Valley Water Users Association. For many years prior to his death, he was the supervisor of the water intake pumping station on the Verde River on the Fort McDowell Indian Reservation, northeast of Scottsdale. He was employed at that job when he died.
      Phil and his wife, Meme, are both buried in the Greenwood Cemetery in Phoenix, near Van Buren and the I-17 freeway.

  iv.   SAIDEE HELEN MC NEIL, b. July 18, 1892, Phoenix, Arizona; d. October 23, 1915, Phoenix, Arizona; m. WILLIAM HANSEL SEELEY, SR., October 11, 1911, Arizona; b. September 10, 1887, Herps, Indiana; d. Unknown.
  Notes for SAIDEE HELEN MC NEIL:
Helen, never recovered from the complications of giving birth to her only child, William Hansel Seeley, Jr., in October, 1912. She contracted Bright's Disease, a type of chronic nephritis (kidney infection]. While not usually fatal in healthy adults, in her weakened condition, it finally took her life in 1915. After her death, her son went to live with her parents, and was adopted by them shortly thereafter.
A copy of a letter from Helen to her brother, Fred, is included in this book, written a year after her son, Bill, was born. It is obvious from the content that she was bed-ridden even then, two years before she died.
Helen is buried in the McNeil family plot in Greenwood Cemetery in Phoenix,

  More About SAIDEE HELEN MC NEIL:
Fact 2: 1915, died of Bright's Disease

  Notes for WILLIAM HANSEL SEELEY, SR.:
William H. Seeley, Sr., left Phoenix for Alaska, probably in 1914. He registered for the draft for World War I in Juneau, AK. Nothing further is known of him. He probably remarried, because in the late 1950's, a man who was supposedly a friend of Mr. Seeley's son met with Bill McNeil in Phoenix. The friend said that Mr. McNeil "looked exactly like" his half-brother. That half-brother's name and whereabouts are unknown.

  v.   HOMER DIX MC NEIL, b. July 01, 1895, Phoenix, Arizona; d. September 11, 1923, Prescott, Arizona.
  Notes for HOMER DIX MC NEIL:
Homer was called "Dix," his middle name, by the family. He served in the Army, in France, during World War I. When he left the service, he was a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army Corps of Engineers. While in the Army, in Washington D.C., he contracted tuberculosis, from which he never recovered. He was eventually hospitalized in the V.A. Hospital at Fort Whipple, a part of Prescott, AZ. His occupation is listed as "salesman" on his death certificate. He served in the military from 1916-1918.

  More About HOMER DIX MC NEIL:
Cause of Death: Tuberculosis
Fact 2: 1923, died in VA Hospital, Ft. Whipple, Prescott, AZ
Fact 3: never married
Fact 4: occupation on autopsy - salesman
Medical Information: contracted during WWI, in Washington D.C.

  vi.   WILLIAM WOOD MC NEIL, b. October 29, 1897, Phoenix, Arizona; d. March 12, 1899, Phoenix, Arizona.
  vii.   FREDERICK ALBERTUS MC NEIL, SR., b. May 28, 1900, Phoenix, Arizona; d. July 13, 1983, Phoenix, Arizona; m. ELISABETH BEECHER, April 21, 1931, Hastings, Nebraska; b. January 18, 1900, North Platte, Nebraska; d. March 28, 1982, Phoenix, Arizona.
  Notes for FREDERICK ALBERTUS MC NEIL, SR.:
Fred graduated from Phoenix Union High school, then went on to the University of Arizona, in Tucson, and the University of the South. He entered the Episcopal ministry and served in Nebraska, Iowa and Phoenix. He retired from the ministry in Phoenix. During World War II he was an Army Chaplain, and served on troop ships in the Atlantic as well as in camps in England.
Fred was the first native Arizonan to be ordained in the Episcopal Church. He was ordained deacon in 1929 at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Phoenix, and priest on September 21, 1930. One of the guests at his ordination was Miss Elisabeth Beecher, sent by the NY office of the church as a field worker to "see what we could do to be of help to the clergy out there in the wilds."
His first assignment was as vicar of St. Andrew's Mission on the west side of Phoenix. Then he served at the Navajo Mission at Fort Defiance, AZ. Fred returned to Phoenix in 1963, to start Trinity Church in Kearney, AZ. He and his wife then returned to Phoenix in 1967, and to St. Andrew's in Glendale, where Father McNeil assisted as associate rector emeritus until his retirement in 1981. During his time there, the parish built the Christian education facility and parish hall, naming it "McNeil Hall."
In June of 1950, Fred officiated in the Baptism of multiple family members, including Kathy & Mark McNeil, Sharon & Kathleen Bogard, and the Gann children, among others. This took place at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, in downtown Phoenix.

  viii.   BURTON BENNETT MC NEIL, b. July 04, 1902, in Iron Springs, near Prescott, Arizona; d. March 13, 1929, Phoenix, Arizona; m. SARAH ETTA RAY, March 1926, Florence, AZ; b. August 30, 1909, Notasulga, AL; d. May 30, 1991, Phoenix, AZ.
  Notes for BURTON BENNETT MC NEIL:
as told to Donna McNeil Bogard by Aunt Meme (Carrie McNeil Tomkinson):
During the summer of 1902, when Meme was sixteen, the family went to their summer home in Iron Springs, near Prescott, AZ. Meme didn't know her mother was pregnant, until she saw Carolyn unpacking a layette for the upcoming birth. When Carolyn went into labor, her doctor, in Phoenix, was summoned. He came up by train to deliver Burton, and then stayed for two days with the family. Meme complained about the doctor's presence because her mother insisted she wait on him.
According to Donna, her father worked as a printer in Phoenix. Donna thinks her father died of spinal meningitis.

  ix.   WILLIAM SEELEY MC NEIL, b. October 07, 1912, Phoenix, Arizona; d. January 1994, Mesa, Arizona; m. (1) EVELYN CHRISTINE DOWNEY, June 06, 1937, Phoenix, Arizona; b. May 05, 1917, Kingsville, Texas; d. February 18, 1975, Phoenix, Arizona; m. (2) ELAINE MILLAR, October 20, 1979.
  Notes for WILLIAM SEELEY MC NEIL:
William Seeley McNeil was born William Hansel Seeley, Jr., and was adopted by his maternal grandparents, Homer and Carolyn McNeil, in 1915, after the death of his mother.
Bill was a printer all his life, working first for his father. For a time, he helped run his father's print shop. After Homer's death, Bill bought the printing business from its owners at that time, his mother, Carolyn, and his (adopted) sister, Meme. He and his first wife, Evelyn, lived upstairs at the print shop. It is not known what happened to the business. He next went to work for Valley National Bank, in the print shop there. In the 1950's, Mr. McNeil started his own printing business, which he ran for several years. After some financial set-backs, he hired a manager to run the business, and went to work for Arizona Public Service Company, in their printing department. He retired from APS in October 1977.
Mr. McNeil enjoyed "rock hounding" and jewelry making. He was also interested in HAM radio, and stamp and coin collecting. He was a fair artist, painting many pictures in his spare time.

  More About WILLIAM SEELEY MC NEIL:
Cause of Death: stroke

  Notes for EVELYN CHRISTINE DOWNEY:
Evelyn came to Mesa, AZ, from Texas some time before 1920. In the 1920 census, she is listed as living with her mother, Grace Carter Downey, a widow, and her maternal grandparents, John I. Carter, and Elizabeth Carter. Her grandparents had been farm laborers, and her mother was listed as such on that census. Her father died when she was a toddler, and nothing is known of him.
After Evelyn's mother re-married, to Roscoe Lloyd Mills, she remained living with her grandparents and other family members, until age five. Her step-father died of tuberculosis some time before 1927. In that same year, Evelyn's mother went into a sanatorium to treat her own case of TB Grace Mills didn't recover from her illness, and died two years later, about 1929. During her illness, Mrs. Mills had placed her children in an orphanage. They stayed there for two years.
When Evelyn was twelve, she was a foster child to Katherine Christy, a school teacher at the Adams Elementary school. Evelyn lived with "Aunt Kate," until 1937, when she married Bill McNeil. After graduating from Phoenix Union High school, she attended Phoenix College for a year. During the early part of her marriage, Evelyn helped her husband in the printing business. When Bill McNeil began his own business in the fifties, Evelyn ran the office, kept the books, and made deliveries of finished jobs. In the mid-1960's, she went to work at Motorola, where she worked until her death.

Evelyn and Bill were both avid bowlers, and won many trophies.

  More About EVELYN CHRISTINE DOWNEY:
Cause of Death: rupture of abdominal aortic aneurism.


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